


Drowning and Different Paths

by Kiterie



Series: 100 themes [48]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-26
Updated: 2011-08-23
Packaged: 2017-11-28 04:52:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/670479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiterie/pseuds/Kiterie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes parents want to see their kids follow in their foot steps and sometimes they don't. Tsume reflects with Shibi on old possibilities.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Drowning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jyukai-Koudan](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Jyukai-Koudan).



It wasn't hard to imagine being swallowed up by him; it was harder to imagine that it wouldn't happen. Shino was unassuming, calm, and cool. All Aburames were; which made them the opposites of Inuzukas. That's just the way it was. She had never really understood why her little brother was best friends with one and had always assumed it was because nobody wanted to put up with him except Shino. When they had been kids, she hadn't given him much thought. _That_ was probably her biggest mistake. 

Shino tightened his hold on her and leapt back, the wall of bugs between them and the enemy. Kneeling, he set her down near a tree, shrugged out of his coat, and wrapped it around her. Sweat soaked through his shirt underneath, and the stiff collar of his shirt sagged. His spiky brown hair drooped and stuck to his face where it had come free of his forehead protector. The sunglasses he normally wore were gone, most likely lost somewhere in the fray. He turned his eyes on her, they were nearly black, but when the fading light filtering through the trees hit them, they took on an almost iridescent green color. Shino looked her over for a moment and then stood back up. He turned his back on her and moved his hands, directing the bugs.

Hana was caught by those eyes even after he looked away from her. The cold slipped around her though, even with his coat on, and she slumped against the tree. She held her hand over the gash on her stomach and winced at both the pain and the paleness of it. Her strength was slipping away, and her thoughts drifted from her savior, his unimaginably brilliant eyes, his strength, his _everything_ she'd missed when she'd dismissed him as her little brother's friend to her dogs. Her boys. She could still smell them out there even through the rank stench of blood and people, of battle.

Fog slipped around her mind, and she sucked in another painful, deep breath, feeling like it was either gone from her or her chest was too heavy. Her eyes slid closed, and she forced them open again. The only thing she could see was Shino and his kikai. Brief glimpses of the battle beyond their little corner slipped through, and some part of her brain said there were more people around her that she couldn't see. It occurred to her that it was because she could smell them. Hana focused on that, trying to block the pain out by distracting herself. They smelled like him, but not, and she wondered who they were. It was there, somewhere in the back of her mind where she could no longer reach.

She was drowning in this darkness, this fog, and the only thing that held her to it was the pain. It would be easy to let that go, she thought. Her hand slipped off of her stomach, and her eyes slid closed.

"Hana-san."

The pain ripped through her again, and she choked on the cry that slipped from her throat. Something pressed hard against her stomach, and she growled, forcing her eyes open to see who her attacker was and found those same captivating green eyes narrowed in concern.

He tightened the bandage again and scooped her up. "Do not close your eyes again."

"Are you--" She coughed. "--trying to tell an Inuzuka what to do?" Hana laughed and it broke down into a coughing fit, her blood splattering over his coat and shirt.

His lips stretched into a thin smile. "Yes." Tightening his hold on her, Shino leapt from the tree they were in to another.

She winced and bit her lip, trying not to cry out from the pain. Despite knowing she was likely going to bleed out, Hana wanted to laugh. She would have if he hadn't jumped again and sent another searing pain through her midsection. All her strength was draining out of her, and she couldn't even lift her arms to hold on properly so she gripped her hands in his shirt, doing her best to keep her breathing under control and her eyes open.

It seemed to take forever, and Hana didn't know when her eyes closed again. It was when he set her down again that Hana realized she must have closed them because the pain hit her and they flew open with scream she hadn't realized she even had in her.

People talked around her, but the words were garbled and dark fog slipped over her again, dragging her down into oblivion.

-

_"Hana-san."_

The name sounded familiar, distant and faded, but familiar. She was warm, though, and tired, and it was dark.

_"Hana..."_

The voice called again, and she thought she remembered something more, a color... green.

_"Your dogs are okay, I thought you should know."_

Dogs. She had dogs? It sounded right, and she mentally scraped at the darkness around her, trying to scrabble free of it. Her dogs. Her boys. They were okay. Relief filled her at the knowledge. There was a pause after the words that seemed longer, and Hana fought again to wake up, but failed. Knowing she was asleep didn't make it easier, and the darkness slipped around her again, covering her with it's silence.

_"I need to go back. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."_

Hana felt like screaming. She didn't want to sleep anymore. She wanted to see the green again. His eyes, she remembered, though not who he was. It frustrated her, and she growled, irritated at the fogginess. Taking a breath, she forced her eyes open, wincing when the light hit them. Not wanting to close them and risk falling asleep again, she blinked and ignored the desire to shut them. "Shino..." His name slipped out before she even knew that she remembered it.

Shino stared down at her. His sunglasses were still missing, but he had his coat back on. It was no longer soaked in her blood, but the stains were there.

She grabbed his hand. "Thank you."

He looked down at her hand on his then back to her eyes, a very light blush coloring his cheeks. "You're welcome, Hana-san."

"Hana," she corrected, wondering why she had never, in all the years they'd known each other, done so before.

The pink of his cheeks darkened, and he nodded very slightly but said nothing.

"Stay safe." 

Smiling, Shino nodded and squeezed her hand. Letting her hand go, he turned and headed out of the tent.

When it was all over, she wanted to find out more about him and his beautiful green eyes, and all the other things she'd overlooked.


	2. Different Paths

Tsume sat down on the ground, stretched her legs out in front of herself, and leaned back against the tree. Her uniform shifted quietly with the motion, the tough green fabric of her vest scrapped the tree. The sun edged closer to the horizon and soft noises broke the silence of the forest around her. Out here beyond the new walls of the city the old growth of the forest still existed. The tree she sat under and the ones surrounding her had been there since she was a genin, longer in fact.

Circling the tree several times, Kuromaru settled himself on one side of her. His movements stiffer than they had been twenty years ago when they'd visited here more often and he let out a huffed breath before laying his head on his paws.

"You didn't have to come," she pointed out simply, popping the lids on two dark brown bottles.

He chuffed and didn't move.

"Well I don't want to hear it later." She knew she would anyway.

The recent war had not been kind to her friend and the old dog was beginning to feel his age more now because of it. The blue of his fur was more gray these days and white was thinner. Both matted easier, a visible sign of age most would not notice. There were other more obvious ones, a limp, a crook to his tail, and scar that stretched over his hind quarters. All that said and even though he no longer went on missions with her, he didn't leave her side when she was home. She was glad for that small fact, but saying as much would likely have hurt the old ninken's pride.

Tsume watched him for a moment then turned her eyes to the trees.

There was no sound to give him away, but a moment later another old friend stood beside her.

"Sit down, Shibi. Old dogs like us should enjoy the breaks we're given," Tsume stated, setting one of the beers down on her left and taking swig from the other.

He stood there for a moment, his hands in the pockets of his oversized-coat, before finally kneeling on the ground beside her. His eyes shifted from her to the beer and after a moment he picked it up.

Neither spoke and they sat there drinking their beers and watching the sunset.

"Did we make a mistake?" Tsume asked, not looking over. There was no saddness or regret to her voice, the tone nearly flat. Despite her unconcerned manner, she wondered sometimes. Shibi wasn't afraid of her strength and the man she'd married had been. He'd been weak that way and in the end she'd chased him off for it. It had been a marriage for the better of her clan and it had given her her children, but she hadn't respected the man she'd accepted as her husband let alone cared for him in the slightest. Shibi however, even now she held a fondness for him.

"No." The answer was simple and straight-forwards, not unlike the man who gave it.

Tsume threw her head back and laughed, distorting the red triangle tattoos on her cheeks and making them appear even more like fangs. "If I were any other woman..." The statement implied that she'd have been offended if she was not who she was and it was obvious enough that she didn't bother finishing it.

Shibi made a sound, a huff of breath through his nose that might or might not have been a snort if it were louder. "If you were anyone else we would not be having this conversation."

She smiled, shrugged, and down the last of her beer. His marriage had been no different from hers even if it was more successful and she wondered if it was because of his ability to keep his emotions in check or simply because he was simply more passive aggressive than she was. Whatever the case was she understood what he meant. If she had been different, not the tempermental, over-emotional bitch she was, he wouldn't have fallen in love with her and if she hadn't been the heir to the Inuzuka clan the conversation would also have been moot. If things had been different they might have ended up  married and their lives would have been different. In the end, like usual, he was right. It wasn't a mistake because it would have implied they had regrets. They had their families, their clans, and neither of them was the type to regret anything, especially not those things.

"Humor me, for old time's sake then. If we had to do it over, if we were _them_ , do you think it would have worked?" Hana wasn't her nor was Shino him, but the similarities were enough that the question was valid.

Shibi looked over at her, arched one dark eyebrow, and stared for a long moment. "Perhaps."

Tsume wondered then if either of them had a regret she was blind to. If it was there, it was unlikely either would ever admit it. She wouldn't, that was for sure.

He continued to stare at her for several long minutes before turning back to watch the sunset. "I suppose we will have to wait and find out."

She turned and watched it with him, not commenting further. There wasn't anything else to say and she was finally getting old enough to know when to shut up. It was odd to watch her daughter and his son following so closely in their paths and yet to see them step so far away from it at the same time. There were a lot of complications but maybe their kids were more stubborn than either of them had been. She hoped so.


End file.
